Just two weeks ago at Twickenham was evidence that England captain Owen Farrell can be pressurised and thrown off his game, and Sam Johnson is keen to find if the same can be done again.
Both Farrell and the Scotland centre will be playing their first rugby since that epic second half in the Calcutta Cup, having been granted weeks off by their respective coaches ahead of this week’s Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final between Saracens and Glasgow at Allianz Park.
But while Johnson, scorer of Scotland’s sixth try in the great comeback, has already moved on from the game a fortnight ago, a week on the couch recovering from his first Six Nations has left him keen to get straight back in.
“I know there are a lot of Glasgow boys with Scotland and England guys at Saracens, but this is a different game, a different week, and we’ve got past that,” he said. “We are aware of the challenge ahead and we’re ready to go there and give it our best crack.
“Obviously if we were to lose (the Calcutta Cup game) with the way it had been going, things would be different and it would be pretty devastating. But we don’t feel that way because of how we came back.”
Johnson found the intensity of the Six Nations to be a surprise, so a week of pizza and playstation – and a little house-hunting – didn’t go amiss.
“That was my first taste of international rugby and I found the Six Nations is as emotionally hard as it is physically,” he said. “For me personally, my body didn’t want to move until the Wednesday after the final weekend.”
As for Farrell, Johnson fully expects him to bounce back.
“Owen is a great player, he’s world class,” he said. “I envy the way he plays a lot. We are aware how hard the challenge is going to be.
“I was talking to Finn Russell after Twickenham, and we agreed the best 10s in the world, when they get front-foot ball and time to play, they are the best players on the pitch, but if you can get up off the line, shut them down and get into them then that creates pressure.
“I think we can pressurise Owen again. We are aware that Saracens have been one of the best teams in Europe consistently for three or four years so we know the challenge ahead. But anyone on their day can go out there, and last week was an example.”
Johnson played in the second of the pool games at Allianz Park, which he thinks was a great example of how Saracens operate.
“I thought we actually played well, but it was one of those things that sum it up, we were good for 80 per cent of the time, created lots of opportunities and scored tries but against a team like Saracens who are so good, one of the best teams in Europe, that 20 per cent makes the difference.
“They know their game, built around their power and resilience. They know if you give them a sniff they’re going to take it. That’s probably where we were stuffed last time just giving them a chance.
“The first hour of that match showed that if we play well we can stay with them. The big thing this week is our physicality and to achieve that we’ve got to go in with the mindset right.
“The forwards have been hitting each other that bit harder to get to their level of physicality, because you want that to be your mindset going into a game like this.”
